The need to increase protection for oceans is urgent, not only to fulfill international commitments, but to alleviate the increasing degradation of marine ecosystems. To this end, the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Mediterranean Action Plan - United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP-MAP) organised, from 7-11 April in Malaga (Spain), a Mediterranean regional workshop to facilitate the description of ecologically or biologically significant marine areas (EBSAs).

The eight partners of the Mediterranean Experience of Ecotourism(MEET) project gathered at the premises of the Directorate-General for Natural Environment and Biodiversity from the regional Government of Catalonia in Barcelona for two days, 10-11 April 2014, to assess the state of implementation of the activities and decide the next steps to move the project forward.

The IUCN Centre for Mediterranean Cooperation (IUCN-Med) has organized on 10 -11 March, at the Historical-Botanical Garden "La Concepcion" in Málaga, a regional training workshop on the global initiative of the IUCN Green List with the participation of three Mediterranean regional groups representing Spain, France and Italy.

The project "Enhancement of biodiversity key areas in North Africa, through the involvement of civil society's organizations for their management and protection" was recently presented in Morocco and Algeria by the IUCN Centre for Mediterranean Cooperation team. It is a subregional project aimed at improving the management and governance of protected areas and key biodiversity areas in the hotspot of the Mediterranean region. The project is funded by the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF) in the framework of its strategic direction "Improving the conservation and the protection status of 44 Key Biodiversity Areas". This project involves four countries, namely: Algeria, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia.

Libya remains as one of the most biologically diverse countries in the Mediterranean, but at the same time preserving its fragile environment from Sahara expanses and climate change is challenging. The IUCN Centre for Mediterranean Cooperation has recently made a mission in Libya to promote two projects: the first one is about Small Initiatives for Civil Society Organizations in North Africa (PPI-OSCAN, its acronym in French) funded by the French Global Environment Facility (FGEF) and the MAVA Foundation, the second project is about "Promoting the value of key biodiversity areas in North Africa through the involvement of civil society in their conservation and management" supported by the critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF).

The PEGASO final conference took place in Antalya (Turkey), from 14th to 17th of January gathering a wide range of institutes and networks from the Mediterranean and Black Sea and representatives from Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) initiatives in other regional seas. PEGASO is a collaborative project between twenty-five partners that have co-worked over four years under the lead coordination of the Autonomous University of Barcelona to develop common, novel approaches to support integrated policies for the coastal, marine and maritime realm of the Mediterranean and Black sea basins.